2.5 Stars. It can go either way. Really...think about it. It's an Indian Buffet at $11 for Lunch and $14. It's not expensive and it's for a fill up. For all those people looking for service, ambiance, top notch cleanliness, and gastronomic delight - as many reviewers seem to want...this is not the place. We are in Kitchener and the best I think I saw was a Bombay Bhel across the street. The place has blinking white Christmas lights completely around the perimeter of the signage and it blinks all night! Come on people...! It's like the Honest Ed's of Curry in a Hurry! Anyway, I was staying at the hotel connected to the same parking lot as this place and it was a simple walk over. I did ask the front desk if the place was any good. The guy says it was around $14 and he eats there all the time. Meh...Y'Not!?! The buffet is small but adequate. The plates are in the dispenser but it is next to the naan and you can find small bits of char breading on the plates. The cutlery is next to it and they too get some food globs - oh well...it was expected. I did not go anywhere near their cold food offering. Can't have digestive issues when biz travelling. Makes the trip a lot looooooonger! URP! The food is acceptable for what it is. They had the ubiquitous Butter Chicken - not as rich as other places, which I don't mind. A half of stick of butter is better for me than the whole brick! Also, they had curry beef, curry goat, some paneer, tandoori chicken, and other standard fare. I did like their goat and naan. The others...meh. The owner was dressed in a golf shirt and a pair of polyester slacks. He spent most of this time on the phone speaking through his large Bluetooth headset. There is no service to be had. Once in a while he would clean a table and take the cash. I wasn't expecting anything more from him. Occasionally, an elderly gent in a turban and beard mask would walk out with a vat of something. Besides them, I saw no one else. Well it is self serve so staff would be a minimum. I had my fill, went for a little walk. Next day, I was pain free - Whew! Would I go back? Sure...but not on the top of my list of places though. Cheers. read more

They have a lunch buffet Monday to Friday. I just went recently. There is not a lot of selection compared to other buffets, but it fills you up nonetheless. Your typical Indian food cooked well. If you are vegetarian, there isn't a lot of selection - usually 2-3 dishes. You can of course order extra items off the menu yourself. Service is great and they just recently renovated, the interior is very classy. I would say it's really worth the money, and great to go in small groups. read more

Food was absolutely delicious! Very clean, Excellent costumer service! Many excellent choices ! Fine surroundings and ambiance. Highly recommend this location! Plenty parking available All the staff is so kind and especially the manager.Brought my friends here and they loved it. read more

We been years coming to this restaurant and the taste not change....still same owner ...I guess. The taste of the food is not that strong. If you taste the butter chicken....you can taste of tomatoes. The meat of goat soft but not to soft. Chicken tandoori have more taste to it but I always think why they remove the chicken skin? I guess for $11.49 for dinner is good deal compare with other places. read more

Modern India Restaurant - Front the store - Indian Near Me - Kitchener, Ontario

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Ignore the snobby reviews. This is the best bang for your buck in the tri-cities/Guelph. It's not meant to be upscale, it's built in an old wendys. I don't know what people expect. I've tried almost everything on the buffet. Always great. The price is cheap, you can get the buffet, a pop, leave a decent tip, pay the tax, all for under 20 bucks. I've only ever had exceptional service. Stuff is always quickly refilled at the buffet. Pretty sure they make their own naan, it's the best I've ever had. Always hot and fresh. Some stuff is pretty spicy, so try a little of every thing before diving in. The desserts are home made and great. The rice pudding is to die for. If you like Indian food, this place is a must try. Focus on the quality of the food and if you're disappointed, I don't know what to tell you. read more

Great food. More variety than I expected walking in. Traditional and well spiced. Service is friendly and quick. Work sent me to the next door Hampton Inn and I am glad I decided to check this restaurant out. read more

I came here for buffet.. after having the taste of Indian food a few days ago, I was craving it again but wanted variety, so I came for buffet instead. First and foremost.. the food here is Fresh and Delicious! The customer service is simple and very kind. I think this will be my new favorite regular spot for Indian food! They have vegetarian and meat items. Everyone can be happy, if you come here. I tried the vegetarian options and meat options and everything was cooked to perfection! The goat / lamb curry was soooooo good! And the butter chicken was Delicious! The Naan bread was probably one of the best I've ever had, it nearly melted in my mouth! This place was barely packed when I came in and it should have been! The Channa Masala and vegetable pakora was sooo good! They must put love into the food. This place not be the best looking but it's about the Food! You need to try this place at least once! I will be back again. 100%. read more

Awesome food. So much variety and so fresh. Great selection of meat and vegetable dishes. Fresh naan at the buffet and brought to the table. So attentive to us and our needs. Excellent desserts and Masala tea. Not my first time here and I will be back. read more

Need a side of "Crunch" or disrespect with your meal? Then come here.. I grabbed my first plate with eagerness because I was so hungry and excited to eat at our favourite Indian place. Cheap and yummy... When I went to get a second plate I saw a young cockroach... I informed the server at that point he went to grab it with a napkin and it went into the basket of food. For a moment I think he contemplated leaving it.. noticing I was still standing there he picked up the bin and brought it to the back. In a daze, I grabbed a bowl of rice pudding and went back to the table. I went to go have a bite and I just couldn't... Eww was all I could think. Young roaches are NEVER alone... I then talked to my friend stating I can not eat another bite from this establishment. I turned to the waiter in which "took" care of the roach and I told him I can not enjoy my meal. I only had 1 plate. I would like a discount on my bill.. He told me he needed to ask. He eventually talked to the manager. From the tone of voice from the manager, I could tell that it was a HARD no. My friend and I were at this restaurant not even a week ago and had fantastic service from this manager. My friend went to go pay our bill and we were charged full price for our meals... no surprise there. I was NOT happy, to say the least. A group of four came in and I told them about the roach.. I was nearly in the car when the manager (obviously fuming) came out and waved his hand angrily at me to come back in. With my door, ajar and one foot in the car I smiled and said "No thank you" then continued on entering my car. He just stared till we left the parking lot... AMAZING service. LOL Needless to say, we will NOT be returning. Best of luck to all who go! :) read more

I will be honest that this is one of the best places that I could ever visit.The New management is really impressive and customer-focused. The food is cooked fresh every day and the it tastes authentic Indian Apart from this,the customer service of the new people is par excellent I used to visit it earlier also but now I feel like home,ever since the new management took over They are nice and very good people and the best part is that it makes my day every time I eat their delicious food I would highly recommend it to your friends and families read more

This was the worst Indian food I've ever tried in Canada. I went there for their buffet and it was absolutely horrible. Everything was bland and you can tell they reuse their old chicken in their curries. The best Indian restaurant in the KW area is definitely Empress of India. Avoid Masala Bay as they reuse old food. read more

I actually have noooooooo idea how this place is still open. When we entered this restaurant, it was dirty. We ordered drinks and they came in very dirty cups which I couldn't even try to ignore. The food was terrible and felt very unsanitary. I actually couldn't eat, so I left and couldn't eat for the rest of the day. Just a terrible place! I wish I could give it zero stars! read more

Visited Friday for dinner buffet $9.99 (lowered their prices from $12.99 which is a much better price for the size of the buffet). Waitress spoke very little English and understood even less. We ordered hot sauce, which the chef/cook usually prepares upon request, and had to explain it several times to waitress and still never got it! Even the couple seated next to us had a hard time ordering Chai tea. The server didn't understand what Masala Chai Tea was? Not impressed with the server. Windowsills, floors and chairs were all filthy! I had to look for a clean chair as the fabric was filthy and very stained. Makes us wonder if the outside area where you can see is not clean, how clean is the food prep area that we can't see? They need to improve their standards. They really need to invest in cleaning this place up and refreshing the decor. The food is absolutely fantastic and this is the only reason I gave it 2 stars. read more

The stories of poor service ring true. The place is not very clean looking but I just needed something quick to eat. I walked in at 9:20PM to order take out Samosas. They were out of Samosas. I then looked at the menu and decided to eat from the buffet. The server notified me that it was 9:30 and that the buffet closed at 9:30 as he pointed at the clock. The clock showed 9:30 it wasn't 9:30 in the real world. The clock was nearly 10 minutes fast. I walked out. They lost me before I could even become a customer. read more

Good buffet with five or six entrees plus salads and desserts. Inexpensive. The staff are friendly and efficient. If you want staff to fawn over you, don't go here. But if you want to be treated like a regular person by regular people, this is the place. read more

My wife and I so much enjoyed the new atmosphere and the new layout of the Buffet. We sure enjoyed a couple of new dishes but overall all the dishes were excellent for us. we are seniors and the service at our table by the young lady was excellent. We were welcomed when we arrived and seated at the table of our choice. Everything from the NAN Bread / Chicken / Goat / Tandoori Chicken were succulent and delicious. We will continue to enjoy this Indian Restaurant into the future. A Super choice for Seniors - (Price is Right). read more

Nice and simple traditional Indian food. Not overpriced. We enjoyed goat curry / naan and chhola batura.

I tried their lunch buffet yesterday during my recent visit to Canada. If you are a vegetarian, they don't have much option in their lunch buffet as it happen to me and two other guest who were also vegetarian.. I like their naans... Saag paneer was ok, disappointed with Chana dish, Dal makhni was my favorite dish in the buffet. Overall ok place but don't think I will try this place again. read more

I visited Modern India Rest on May 13th - MOTHER'S DAY. I small sign was taped to the front door announcing that for today only the lunch price would be $13.99 (instead of the usual lunch price of $10.99). This was clearly done to "cash in" on the extra customers which they anticipated for Mother's Day. I've been eating at this restaurant for the past 9 or 10 years. The management changed a few months ago. The previous management NEVER charged extra on holidays or "special" Sundays - the lunch price was the same, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year. That's exactly why they kept me as a steady customer - good food and consistent prices (and by the way I have no complaint with the food at all). Today I asked the hostess why, as the new owner, she was introducing this "bump up" in prices for certain Sundays, and explained to her that the previous management had not practiced this policy. At first she claimed that the previous owner had done the same thing, but when I pointed out that I had been eating here for 10 years and knew very well this wasn't the case, she quickly came up with some explanation that "other" buffet restaurants in that neighbourhood all charged extra on holidays. I found the whole exchange quite unfriendly and unsympathetic. This is not a way to win customer loyalty. My strong suggestion to MODERN INDIA RESTAURANT, and their new management team, is to keep the lunch price at $10.99 ALL THE TIME, and to keep the dinner price at $13.99 ALL THE TIME to avoid hard feeling from regular and long time customers such as myself. I will not be going there on Sunday ever again - I "might" go there on a weekday for lunch. We'll see.... read more

The woman at the desk at the Hampton Inn told us that "the food was cold" when she went to this restaurant across the parking lot from the hotel, but we like Indian, food, the kids will eat it, so we gave it a try. What they call "Butter Chicken" tasted like Tiki Masala to me, and it was good. The goat was kind of greasy. The naan was okay, but a little cold. The little veggie dumplings were good, and they had some made of sweet potatos. Upon looking at my receipt, it appears homeboy added a 15% tip on top of the total, and I ended up giving 15% additional. Not wise, especially for a buffet. read more

I'm a little sceptical, now I see the tip about the heath dept. Should've looked on yelp first, shucks! Despite that, I've already eaten here and can't take it back now. I thought it was flippin' great. It was my first time eating somewhere that only had India options. Everything was really great, though it was a small buffet. I liked all the vegetarian options too. Lots of 'em! At only $6 for ayce dinner buffet, how can you go wrong, er, right. The only thing that really threw me off was the fact that the waitress seated everyone on one half of the Restaurant, and it was a pretty busy night. I found this very odd. I would prefer to be away from people if the options there. read more

Placed a take-out order with a couple of friends in person. They said it would be a 30 minute wait, and refused when I asked to pay right away. We agreed and walked across the street to our hotel. We returned 25 minutes later to see our receipts still sitting at the cashier. The host told us they had no idea if we still wanted our orders because we left, and that we shouldn't have left if we wanted our food to be ordered. Ridiculous and incompetent service, not to mention the blocked off windows to hide the kitchen. No idea how this place is in business. read more

I eat there fairly often...love their Butter Chicken and price is pretty good. One big frustration: Often there's practically no chicken in the Butter Chicken...just a big tub of sauce. I then have to go to the waitress and ask her to speak with the kitchen staff about putting some more chicken in. Other than that, a great place! read more

Not bad, if you're looking for a quick Indian food fix. It's a buffet, with all regulars. The saag paneer wasn't bad, just very little cheese, and the butter chicken was decent. The goat curry seemed like it had a lot of bones in it, but my coworker enjoyed it. The server was good, and very polite. If I was staying at the Hampton inn and had to rush through dinner I'd go back, but I'd pass otherwise. read more

I stopped in here by chance last week and was pleased to find a cheaper alternative to eat. The hosts are nice and the buffet is quick, easy and had several veggie options so there was no problem there. We went there a second time this week and aren't disappointed with the food. If you are looking for a fancy fine dining experience there are better options but for $10 I can't complain and it will be a place to go if we are in the area at lunch time again. read more

The food was all very good. Nice selection of dishes, plus ice cream and plenty of fruit for dessert. Place isn't fancy, don't expect everything to be labelled properly. Hard to beat a $9 buffet. read more

It's not good. Place is dirty. Food tastes old and tinny. The buffet might be cheap, but it's not worth it. Spend a few extra bucks and eat somewhere that has better food. read more

I love this place. The food is nice and hot. Plenty of options are available during most brunches. I could live off the goat curry and butter chicken. The buffet is great. The take home is an amazing offer. They will modify your dish's spice for you to suit your tastes. Great service. You can't go wrong. read more

I went in to get the Tandoori chicken, which is listed as $10.95 in the menu, was charged $27 in the final bill, and when questioned, the (new) owner said it is now $20 "something", but you get more, which we did not, and to make it worse, the chicken was burned beyond recognition....do not go to this roadside canteen masquerading as a restaurant, whose quality has steadily declined since Sam left. read more

I would give this place a negative star if I had an option. I was craving hot masala chai with some Indian food. I asked the girl at the counter if I can order chole bhature and she said we are out of stock. Whatever that means! Didn't want to do buffet cuz it was alot of food. Asked her what spicy rice had and she just told me that rice which is spicy..gee thanx. She got my order wrong which was palak paneer, naan n chai. I asked if I could sit in and she said ok. I got the food in a white garbage bag with paneer over flowing from the container. After arguing with me 2 for mins then she finally decided to order the chai that she forgot. I turned around and said that I will start eating and just bring the tea. She turned around and rudly told me that I can't cuz ur order is a takeout! What the hell? You can't eat in unless you are doing the buffet. Waited another 10 mins and finally got the tea..by this time i had toss the tea cuz it was in dirty cup and they probably spat in it. Seriously! Horrible.. I paid $22 for food that I barely ate. The place dingy and dirty. read more

I love cheap, fast, delicious Indian with no frills, but this place is silly. The food is ok -- middle-of-the-road, nothing really wrong but nothing to write home about either. What truly sucks is the service. I went in by myself for a quick bite on New Year's Day, on my way to London. The place was practically empty -- only 2 tables of maybe 20 in the restaurant were occupied. The "host" insisted I sit at a tiny two top right in front of the door, meaning I would be exposed to freezing cold wind any time someone opened the door. No thanks. I moved to leave and he let me sit at a four top around the corner instead. Fine. Buffet was ok -- lots of veggie choices and it was hot. I had ordered a mango juice when I sat down; 25 minutes later I still didn't have it...and keep in mind there are only 5 diners in the whole restaurant, including me, all self-serving at the buffet. I cancelled the juice since I was almost done eating, and had to help myself to a water off the bar instead, since my "waiter" (the host) never delivered one. I didn't really want seconds at the buffet but wanted a little more butter chicken sauce to finish my existing rice and naan. Rather than take a whole new fresh plate (which would have required me adding more rice to keep the sauce in place on the plate), I took a small bowl and added a bit of sauce to take back to my table. That's when the waiter decides to come over for the first time in the entire 35 minutes I've been there, to tell me off for using a bowl for a main dish. That was the end for me. There are better restaurants with better food and far bette service; warm, generous, and appreciative of their customers business, just like in the India I love. read more

Went for lunch and the selection was not very big. There are only three meat entrees: goat curry, butter chicken, and tandoori chicken. And there are four vegetarian entrees, as well as a salad bar. The food actually tasted good. I'm giving a relatively low rating because I got a stomach ache after dining there... read more

Very cheap Indian buffet the food is OK but not spectacular. It's about the same as curry that you would find in a food court.

Place has been around for long time. I find it a tasteless mediocre buffet style food. Sadly a good food possibility dumbed down for generic palates read more

This is a typical Indian Buffet Restaurant with a decent price and selection. The goat curry was my favourite along with the tandoori chicken. The chana had a good kick but the butter chicken and chicken curry were a little watery and lacking in flavour. The naan kept coming out fresh and hot so bonus points there. read more

Pretty horrible Indian food. Bland curry (I didn't think this was possible!) and some of the stuff was either stale or cold. Buffet style food with pretty standard Indian fare, except it neither had spice nor taste to it. Chewy beef and dry chicken. Ugh. read more

Sorry to say that the buffet was terrible and the services not much better. My complaint about the food is that the dishes at the buffet table were not quite warm, and the food had no flavor (hard to do with Indian food...) I was told by the server to use plates instead of small bowls for main dishes (I like to use bowls so the saucy Indian dishes won't get all mixed up in a plate) He pointed to a sign saying this when he noticed me trying put to goat curry sauce in a cup. This is the first Indian place that told me not to use bowls (bowls were evidently meant for desert only), so I asked why and the guy there said so they won't have to wash so many bowls... Hmm... OK... One good thing that came out of this is, we didn't have to pay a lot to find out we never want to go back. I have probably been to about 30 Indian restaurants (most of them in California) and this one takes the last prize - far behind from all the rest. read more

Shit. That's what came up in my mind after taking a bite of their take out consisting of butter chicken, goat curry, saag and chick peas. The first complain I have is that the food tastes bland as HELL. There is a major difference in the saag vs what your mother would make. I should of just got my mother to make the saag and butter chicken better then this shit. The goat and chick peas I gave to my cousin after tasting it. Who ever the chefs are a disgrace go back to India and learn how to cook. I made this review solely to warn those wanting to eat at there restaurant I can't comment on service but the food is disgusting and they put bigger portions of chicken to make the goat curry simply goat and the butter chicken, chicken with literally no taste. I rather eat shit, thanks for ruining my Saturday and leaving me starved you stupid chefs and staff, please avoid this horrible joint and go buy a cheeseburger from McDonald's, which was my original plan , better then this crap! I'm indian and I know what indian food tastes like, not this stuff. read more